Friday, June 13, 2008

New Britain and a short-staffed Rochester both post wins

Altoona 1 at New Britain 5

W: R. Mullins (6-4, 3.23); L: J. Hill (4-7, 4.20)HR: None.

Perhaps the worst is over? Ryan Mullins held the Altoona Curve to just 5 hits and 2 walks over eight innings Thursday night, to lead the New Britain Rock Cats to a 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh farm team.

New Britain would take an early lead off former Rock Cat pitcher Josh Hill when Steve Tolleson doubled his way onto base. A passed ball by Miguel Perez got him to 3rd. Dustin Martin would ground out and Brock Peterson would strike out before Erik Lis singled to bring him home.

Back-to-back doubles by Peterson and Lis in the bottom of the 4th lead to another run. Following a line out to David Winfree, Matt Moses walked. Trevor Plouffe's ground out advanced the pair of runners before Felix Molina doubled them in.

In the bottom of the fifth, Peterson would take a walk and be doubled in by Lis to give the Cats a nice 5-0 lead.

Altoona would break the goose eggs in the next inning, when Shelby Ford walked, and following a fly out to Melvin Dorta, was plated by Jason Bowers sixth double of the season.

Former Miracle Frank Mata closed the game, his first with the Rock Cats this season.

Lis would finish up 3-for-4 at the plate with a run and 3 RBIs. Tolleson was 1-for-1 with a walk and a double, and Peterson was 1 for 3 with a walk a pair of runs and a double. Molina was 1-for-3 with a double and 2 RBIs.

The Binghamton Mets open up a 3-game series against the Rock Cats at New Britain Stadium Friday with the first pitch set for 6:35 PM.

While the Durham Bulls matched the Rochester Red Wings hit for hit, it was Rochester who got the timely hits, downing the Bulls 9-4. Danny Graves allowed 3 runs on 8 hits while fanning 3 over 5.1 innings. Two guys who are always released in nearly every blogger's GM fantasy - Ryan Jorgensen and Chris Basak - both went yard for the wings.

Garrett Jones singled, moved to 2nd on a Randy Ruiz ground out and came home on a Sergio Santos single in the bottom of the second to open the scoring.

Basak opened up the bottom of the 4th with a single shot home run - his 5th of the season - over the left field wall. Darnell McDonald followed that up with a single and a steal - this 10th of the season. Jones would smack a line drive to right to plate him, then advanced to 3rd on a throwing error by right fielder Jon Weber. Jones would score on Randy Ruiz ground out.

Graves actually got a couple of turn at the plate, singling in the bottom of the 5th. Tommy Watkins would hit into a force out however. Following a steal, Watkins 4th of the year, Basak would double to drive in Watkins. He'd be plated on a pair of errors, fielding and throwing by Reid Brignac.

Ruiz and Jason Pridie would both single their way onto base in the bottom of the 6th before Jorgensen put this third yard ball of the year over the left field fence.

Basak, Jones and Pridie all finished up 2-for-4 at the plate, Basak with a pair of runs and a pair of runs scored, Jones with a pair of runs and a single RBI, and Pridie with a run and a RBI. Both of Basak's hits were for extra bases.

A series of injuries and player moves forced the pitchers to bat in the game as there were no other batters available to designed hitter duty. They didn't do too bad, going a collective 2-for-4 at the plate.

The two teams rematch tonight with Kevin Mulvey (3-7, 4.05 ERA) going against former Wing Jeremy Cummings (5-1, 2.17). First pitch is set for 7:05 PM at Frontier Field.

Catcher Jose Morales was placed on the disabled list with a sprained left ankle. It's the same ankle Morales seriously injured in his Major League debut last September. Morales is batting .315 with four home runs and 15 RBI in 54 games for the Red Wings.

Outfielder Denard Span was activated from the disabled list. Span has been on the disabled list since May 22 with a broken left middle finger. Span is batting .327 with three home runs, nine RBI and a team-high 14 stolen bases in 27 games for Rochester. Span was originally listed in the starting lineup Thursday, then pulled from the lineup before the game.

The Red Wings will activate infielder Alejandro Machado from the disabled list Friday. Machado has been on the disabled list since Opening Day recovering from right shoulder surgery; Machado missed the entire 2007 season.

Catcher Jeff Christy will be promoted from Double-A New Britain Friday. Christy was batting .216 with four RBI in 23 games for the Rock Cats this season. Former first round pick Trevor Plouffe will be one of three new players joining the Wings for Friday night's home game.

As previously reported Juan Rincon was outrighted to AAA Rochester and has 72 hours to accept or decline the assignment. Third baseman Brian Buscher was recalled to Minnesota and will be available to the Twins for Friday's game at Milwaukee.

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The best-kept secret in the Twins blogosphere, Fort Myers native Dianna has been blogging about Twins minor-league affiliates since 2001, but has not received as much attention as she deserves. Unhappy with the level of exposure at her last host, Dianna moved her blog to Twins Territory. Other Twins blogs may touch on the minors, but Mostly Minors owns them. The focus doesn’t stop at just the top prospects, but covers all the farmhands, from top to bottom. On top of that, a rabid Fort Myers Miracle fan, Dianna has actually seen most of the players she writes about at one point in their professional careers. Few blogs can match Mostly Minors’ originality, and if you have any interest in the Twins farm system, make this blog part of your reading routine.

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